RomanPunks is a retrofuturistic, cyberpunk derivative world-building project inspired by fine art, history and the cryptopunk movement.
A total of 1,000 RomanPunk characters have been frozen in time and minted as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum, WAX, Polygon and Algorand blockchains.
RomanPunk characters are comprised of commoners and famous individuals based on Roman history, art history and pop culture.
The basis for RomanPunk lore and backstories is exhaustively researched by history/sci-fi buff and co-founder, Punktavian.
All images are drawn by hand by woman artist and co-founder, Cleopunktra, without the aid of AI or generative tools.
RomanPunks came into existence through early minting on OpenSea, promoting on Twitter and building a Discord community through giveaways and engagement. The idea of a cyberpunk-derivative ‘RomanPunk’ theme was in our heads for years, but it was the success of the Cryptopunks that became the catalyst for project conception and launch.
After a hard working first 60 days spent networking and attracting new collectors to RomanPunks, our community had begun to flourish and sales increased. We began to offer our collectors an opportunity to battle their NFTs in a tournament bracket powered by dice rolls.
Encouraged by the tight knit community and the carbon-neutral blockchain with lightning fast and low cost transactions, we launched 'romanpunksio' collection on WAX Blockchain as the first step to expand the backstories of our RomanPunk characters and the baseline for future development of a card game.
RomanPunks integrated with Chainlink Labs to utilize VRF (Verified Randomness Function) to host a giveaway raffle for our holders. We developed a smart contract on Ethereum which guarantees true random number selection on chain and can be used for a wide range of functions that require random selection.
After much anticipation in the community, we released our first WAX NFT card 'pack' through the Neftyblocks platform, which sold out in less than a week.
We launched our Twitch channel and begun building an audience by offering numerous giveaways of WAX NFTs from our collection, as well as giving participants a chance to win RomanPunk ETH NFT airdrops for taking top spot at the end of the 'season'.
As firm believers in a metaverse future and land owners in The Sandbox, we undertook to build the RomanPunk Colosseum on 1x1 land and entered our experience "Gladiator Bloodsport" into a GameJam contest. We will continue to build the Colosseum into a PVP arena and social hub once The Sandbox offers creators the ability to do so.
Thanks to the user friendly tools offered by NeftyBlocks, we launched a comprehensive blending system on WAX, allowing our collectors to blend the common NFTs they earn in our Discord RPG up into Legendary famous NFTs through the use of blending 'coins' that can also be earned on the Discord as reward for helping to promote the RomanPunks project.
We launched the VX collection on Polygon. Each owner of an ETH NFT gets their voxel equivalent airdropped to them, and these NFTs can be redeemed for official NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace once available.
All 1,000 original, unique 1:1 RomanPunk characters hand drawn by Cleopunktra and minted on OpenSea.
The RomanPunk WAX NFT Trading Card Fighter Pack Series II consists of 3 NFTs randomly selected from over 236 characters.
Upcoming plans for RomanPunks include:
Below is a comprehensive and searchable directory of all 1,000 RomanPunk Characters.
Born in 158 AD in Lugdunum, Liv lived as a dancer assassin during the times of Marcus Aurelius, but was cast into an interdimensional speculum by a jealous Commodus. Transported to the 26th century, she flourished as a singer soldier who spearheaded a major troop recruitment campaign.
Born 488 AD in Gamla Uppsala, Sega was a mercenary vampire slayer for the Merovingian king, Clovis I, who forbid any under his command to cut their hair. Sega never married or bore children, devoting her curiously long life to the eradication of the undead scourge.
Born 95 BC in Perinthus, Leo fought alongside Spartacus before being captured and forced into gladiatorial combat. Renowned for slaying the most zombies in a single bout, his moment of greatest triumph was interrupted when his consciousness was ‘freejacked’ by time-traffickers to 23rd century AD Britannia. Now, he battles in a cloned body for the Interdimensional Cybergladiator League (ICL), as part of the AlgoSaxons, a squad sponsored by the Algorand Foundation.
Born 2114 AD in Rome, not much is known about Galla other than she is a dimension hopping cyber-mercenary who dismantles empires through time targeted assassinations.
Born 2423 AD in Atuatuca, Dovina is known for her fierce intelligence and rebellious spirit. In her early twenties, she entered the Miss Metaverse pageant, using the platform to advocate against sexual harassment. Dovina made headlines when she publicly accused a clone of Julius Caesar of groping her during the 2500-year anniversary of his victory in Gaul. This bold move sparked controversy, but her courage inspired a movement for justice and equality.
Born in 123 BC in Tarsus, Rox was a Cilician pirate who had captured and sold Julius Caesar for ransom. As revenge, Caesar returned to condemn Rox to an eternal life of fighting in the most brutal gladiator pits through time and space.
Born in 106 AD, Rabbel guarded the royal tombs of Petra until one day he disappeared into a dimensional portal, sending him to a distant place and time where he was pressed into service as a cybergladiator.
Born in 2261 AD in Seia, Sennian spent his youth piloting luxury space liners alongside his father, traveling the solar system in opulence. When his parents were brutally murdered by cyborg mafia assassins, he inherited a modest fortune but was left driven by vengeance. Now a charismatic cyberchariot racer in the Hypodrome, Sennian channels his skill and swagger to win the crowd’s favor while secretly funding a Lusitanian independence movement led by a clone of the ancient revolutionary leader Viriathus.
Born 11 AD in Emerita Augusta, Iccona is a spoiled socialite who was gifted with a transdimensional vision device for her 16th birthday by her ultra-rich industrialist father. When she’s not hosting glamourous interdimensional rave parties on daddy’s metaverse yacht, Iccona competes in pan-galactic vertical scrolling shooter tournaments.
Born in 2169 AD in Syracusae, Zino was a logistics officer in Rome’s hellacious campaign against the Dacian vampire scourge. Now a pencil-necked attorney and accountant for the profligate Governor Mazar, Zino finds himself torn between helping his old comrades uncover the grisly murder of a cyborg pleasurebot and maintaining his precarious position in the baroque society of Neo-Carthage. The stakes are even higher as suspicions point towards his employer, forcing Zino to navigate a perilous path where loyalty and self-preservation are constantly at odds.
Born 311 AD in Mediolanum, in a steampunk parallel universe, Gnaeus is a wealthy industrialist who schemes to undermine the corrupt Emperor Constantius II by providing dirigibles and steam chariots to the burgeoning Aztec Empire so that they may reclaim the western hemisphere from the grip of Roman hegemony.
Born 211 BC in Gades, Quique was enslaved as a gladiator for rebelling against the governor. His massive size & popularity influenced scouts from 28th century AD to press Quique into service at a futuristic cybercolosseum.
Born in 2162 AD in Petra, Zalika hails from an ancient Nabataean lineage renowned for its mastery of trade, finance, and subterfuge. As a plenipotentiary representative of the Crimson Oasis Bank, she holds immense influence within the Red Sands Syndicate, a financial empire that discreetly controls the flow of wealth and power across continents. In a world dominated by RomAngloGallic rulers with ancient minds reanimated in synthetic bodies, Zalika’s current mission is to finance the clone of Hannibal Barca in his revolutionary campaign against Neo-Carthage’s corrupt governor and the cyborg Emperor Caligula.
Born in 90 BC in Rome, Cindy Cincinnatus was a loyal centurion who fought with Julius Caesar, using technology from the distant future to help Caesar defeat his enemies; however, she could not foresee his assassination and took her own life out of shame.
Born in 404 AD in a herd of nomads, Takuka was forced to marry at 11, murdered her husband at 13 and became a gladiator champion at 16. Now she travels across dimensions thirsting for blood and glory in the ring.
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romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
